In the One Piece World, superior Devil Fruits held a great advantage over inferior ones.
The Mera Mera no Mi and the Magu Magu no Mi are the most classic examples.
Ace, who had fought Jinbe for seven days and nights without a clear victor and even escaped from Marine Admiral, Aokiji Kuzan, was proof of his immense strength.
Aokiji Kuzan and Akainu Sakazuki fought for ten days and nights before a winner was decided.
This shows that their strength was nearly equal.
By this logic, even if Ace couldn't defeat Sakazuki, he should have been able to escape.
Yet the reality was that Sakazuki severely wounded Ace with a single, effortless attack.
This was the absolute suppression of a superior Devil Fruit over an inferior one!
Now, the situation between Kyoya and Ichinose was similar to that of Ace and Sakazuki.
However, Kyoya's strength wasn't as overwhelming as Sakazuki's.
In fact, if you excluded his Observation Haki, Kyoya's overall combat ability was slightly inferior to Ichinose's.
Therefore, Kyoya's battle against Ichinose couldn't possibly be as one-sided as Sakazuki's instant defeat of Ace.
That said, contesting control over 'light' with Ichinose was entirely within Kyoya's capabilities.
The title of Strongest within a certain element wasn't just for show.
Its most fundamental power, Tenso Jurin, allowed the wielder to command the corresponding element, using it to amplify their own abilities while suppressing their enemy.
As the strongest Zanpakuto of the light element, once released, Kyoya naturally gained supreme control over 'light'.
Even though Ichinose Maki's Reiryoku surpassed Kyoya's, his mastery over 'light' couldn't compare to Kyoya's.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Deafening explosions erupted, and in an instant, Ichinose's [Colorful Gem of Rainbow Mist] was detonated by Kyoya.
"What?!"
Shocked by the destruction of his technique, Ichinose was stunned.
He didn't even understand how Kyoya had dismantled his attack.
All he knew was that after Kyoya released his Zanpakuto, he had completely lost control over the sword beams formed by his Colorful Gem of Rainbow Mist.
Amid the blazing light, Ichinose faintly saw Kyoya swinging his blade toward his position.
Acting on instinct, Ichinose Maki immediately resorted to his hidden ability-
[Invisibility]
In an instant, the air around Ichinose distorted, and his figure vanished from the training grounds.
This ability allowed him to manipulate the refraction of light around him, rendering himself invisible.
Maki had always known that this technique would draw disdain from the members of the 11th Division, so he had never used it openly in front of them.
But now, he felt that if he continued to hide it, Kyoya might defeat him in an instant.
It wasn't hard to imagine that a 'genius' like Kyoya wouldn't be satisfied with just the position of Lieutenant after joining the 11th Division.
In fact, judging by how Kyoya had immediately challenged for a seated officer position upon joining, Ichinose could guess that Kyoya's true target was Kiganjo!
Among all the Gotei 13, only the Captain of the 11th Division could be replaced simply by defeating the current Captain in combat.
The other twelve divisions' Captains need to be nominated by three or more Captains, and more than six Captains must personally prove that they possess Captain-level power, or perform their Zanpakuto's Bankai in the presence of three or more Captains before they can become Captain.
After defeating Ichinose, Kyoya's next target would undoubtedly be Kiganjo.
As one of Kiganjo's most loyal subordinates, Ichinose believed that even if he couldn't stop every enemy who posed a threat to the Captain, he should at least ensure that Kiganjo understood their abilities… giving him an advantage in any future battles.
After all, within the Gotei 13, Zanpakuto with unknown abilities are always the most feared.
For those Shinigami whose names and abilities are already known, unless they reach Yamamoto's level, even Captains can be put in a difficult position if their powers are countered.
Well, actually, even Yamamoto himself was often the first target in many of Soul Society's crises, with enemies always finding ways to weaken him first.
For example, Aizen only dared to declare war on Soul Society after creating Wonderweiss Margela, effectively sealing Yamamoto's Zanpakuto.
Or Yhwach, the progenitor of the Quincies, who had someone impersonate him as a decoy. The moment Yamamoto let his guard down after slaying the 'fake' Yhwach, his Bankai was stolen...
Even if it meant being despised and ostracized by the rest of the 11th Division, Ichinose was determined to force Kyoya to reveal more of his power!
Boom-
A white crescent slash tore through the ground, carving a trench dozens of meters deep.
Seeing Ichinose dodge his attack, Kyoya wasn't surprised.
While his increased power had significantly amplified the force behind his flying slashes, their speed hadn't improved as drastically.
Combined with the distance between them, it wasn't difficult for Ichinose to evade once he noticed the attack.
In fact, even in the One Piece World, many of the flying slashes from the [Greatest Swordsman in the World], Dracule Mihawk, had been dodged.
With Ichinose vanishing from sight, Kyoya smirked.
This move of his would be a trump card against Shinigami who hadn't honed their Reikaku to a certain level. (T/N: Reikaku means Spiritual Sense.)
But unfortunately, such tricks were useless against Kyoya.
For one, Kyoya's control over 'light' surpassed Ichinose's, so he could easily sense the densest concentration of light, making Ichinose stand out like a glaring light bulb in his perception.
Secondly, Kyoya's Observation Haki is a 'super sense' operating independently of vision. A mere light-bending illusion cannot be hidden from Kyoya's Observation Haki at all.
Raising his Ama no Murakumo, Kyoya swung it down toward Ichinose's location.
Boom-
Golden light condensed, transforming into a slash over ten meters tall that instantly engulfed Ichinose's position-
'So fast-'
'I can't dodge this!'
Ichinose had intended to ambush Kyoya while invisible, but he never expected Kyoya to unleash such an attack.
It was as if Kyoya had seen right through his invisibility.
More importantly, the speed and power of this flying slash were at least three times greater than the previous one!
In this critical moment, Ichinose finally unleashed his strongest technique.
He absorbed massive amounts of light, dispelling the light-bending illusion he had used to conceal himself.